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Madame Tussauds Singapore

Madame Tussauds Singapore has recently opened, bringing an international ensemble of celebrities and iconic figures to Singapore! Who do you want to meet on the red carpet? Read on to discover all three sections of this attraction, including Madame Tussauds Singapore, The Spirit of Singapore ride and Images of Singapore LIVE.

Taking over the Images of Singapore building at Sentosa’s Imbiah section, Madame Tussauds Singapore houses multiple attractions: The Singapore branch of the world-famous Madame Tussauds museum, and a refreshed Images of Singapore experience. The two attractions are linked with the Spirit of Singapore boat ride.

Tickets

Multiple ticketing options are available, both on-site and online. There is a discount if you book your tickets online (at least 24 hours in advance of visit).

RWS Promo: At the moment there is a promotion with RWS, where you can add a one-day pass to S.E.A. Aquarium OR Adventure Cove Waterpark to the Bundle with a $5-10 top-up. So that’ll be $40 per adult, $35 per child. Find out more here.

Child: 3 – 12 years old
Adult: 13 – 60 years old
Senior: Above 60 years old

The Spirit of Singapore boat ride is included in all three options.

Images of Singapore LIVE review

Images of Singapore LIVE kept most of its original scenes, but with some new additions – the most notable being the LIVE aspect. The result is a rather interactive journey covering some “200 years” of Singapore’s history.

I felt that it was a brilliant idea to reinvent this ageing museum by adding actors – it really brought some scenes to life. It keeps the audience interested and improves the pacing of navigating the museum. The new experience takes about 35 minutes.

However, some new elements, such as certain special effects, surprisingly felt as dated as the old Images of Singapore. The projection effects for “talking” wax figures, clearing an adaptation from Disney’s famous Haunted Mansion ride, was not convincing. And a similar piece of music keeps replaying throughout the museum.

While entertaining, there are “gaps” in the stories. Guests shouldn’t visit this attraction to expect an accurate reenactment of Singapore’s story. It’s Images of Singapore after all, not Singapore History Museum. Still, it beats walking around the old Images of Singapore on your own with only lifeless scenes to peruse. Props to the actors for portraying their characters passionately – even when I visited on the second day of opening.

The updated Images of Singapore LIVE reuses most of the original scenes from the 2005 refurbishment. Some notable elements, such as the Four Winds of Singapore multimedia show and its trading office remained intact.

If you have time, or have not visited the Museum in a long time (before 2005, especially), I’d say it’s worth going. You just need to pay $3~5 more to add Images of Singapore LIVE to a Madame Tussauds Singapore ticket.

Madame Tussauds Singapore requested that no photos and videos to be taken at this attraction, so that will be all for Images of Singapore LIVE.

The Spirit of Singapore boat ride overview

The Spirit of Singapore is a boat ride through several iconic scenes and moments of Singapore. It is… a very brief journey, slightly less than 3 minutes.

Billed as a “celebration of everything that is Singapore”, the ride is a rather confusing one. It starts off in a Garden with a figure of Sir Stamford Raffles, and quickly weaves into a modern Singapore landscape – complete with sights of Marina Bay Sands, Gardens by the Bay, Singapore Flyer and the F1 Track, with a lonely Lewis Hamilton wax figure standing beside a racecar.

Then suddenly it runs into a few scenes celebrating cultural diversity…(?)

The boat then turns back into a Chinatown-like scene, and unloads. It’s definitely a journey that presents Singapore has a melting pot of cultures and a land of rapid progress. And #NationBuilding stories. Chop chop, off you go to the next section!

The ride itself isn’t groundbreaking or amazing. I’m a tough critic when it comes to such rides, because some theme parks have already perfected the art decades ago. I was hoping to see a modern revival of that Clarke Quay Adventure boat ride in Clarke Quay Festival Village which briefly existed in the 90s. Has anyone been on that ride before?

Madame Tussauds Singapore review and photo tour

The star attraction, Madame Tussauds Singapore, is divided into 7 themed sections with more than 50 figures on display. Depending on the type of visitor you are (Selfie completionist?), you can expect to spend close to an hour here. The following photos highlight the variety of figures on display and is not a complete representation of everything shown at Madame Tussauds Singapore.

Some figures, especially the new ones premiering in Singapore, are remarkably detailed. So much that they seem… disturbingly real!

TIP: When taking photographs at Madame Tussauds, try to discover the “gaze” of each figure first. Whether it’s a selfie, group photo or portraiture, you will get better photos when the figures are looking right into the camera.

Yusof bin Ishak, the first President of Singapore

Soekarno, the first President of Indonesia

Barack Obama

Lee Hsien Loong

Goh Chok Tong

Lee Kuan Yew and his late wife, Mdm Kwa Geok Choo

HM Queen Elizabeth II

David Beckham, sporting Pink Adidas for some reason

Yao Ming (super tall!)

Fandi Ahmad (Flashback 1994 version)

Cristiano Ronaldo

The history section, which has a figure of Madame Tussaud, goes through the history and craft of making wax figures. This is where prototypes of the Stefanie Sun figure can be viewed too, to understand the tedious and expensive process of creating just one wax figure.

Marie Tussaud

This is where you can get your own wax hands too. $10 for single hand sculpture, $20 for a couple hand sculpture. Packaged in a fancy Madame Tussauds box!

Audrey Hepburn, with the Breakfast at Tiffany’s scene that’s a staple at Madame Tussauds worldwide.

Bruce Lee

The Bollywood stars have a special section. In total, there are five Bollywood celebrities in Madame Tussauds Singapore.

E.T – being the only non-human here

Aishwarya Rai

Tom Cruise

Johnny Depp

Leonardo DiCaprio

Michelle Yeoh

And that concludes the photo tour of Madame Tussauds Singapore. I wished that Merlin Entertainments built the Chamber of Horrors or SCREAM in Singapore, but I guess our museum would be “family friendly” with the Spirit of Singapore boat ride being its unique defining feature.

While it has only opened for a few weeks, Madame Tussauds Singapore has a strong collection of figures on display. Who else do you want to see here? You can let your voice be heard – A feedback booth at the gift shop allows visitors to suggest new figures to be added to the collection.

This is an new attraction, so be prepared for some crowds during weekends – which would mean some waiting for your turn to take pictures. People are dying to meet their stars and get their selfies taken!

3 Responses to Madame Tussauds Singapore

Yes I remember the Clarke Quay adventure Boat Ride. I think it was and still is the BEST boat ride in Singapore. It definitely beats the Spirits of Singapore boat ride and the Madagascar boat ride at USS. LOL.

The Clarke Quay one was even longer than 3mins! It was at least 15 – 20 mins.

If it’s not too much, I’m hoping you could do a post on that CQ ride. e.g. what happened to it? why did it close down?

Anyhow, great job documenting about Madame Tussauds Singapore. Will you be uploading a video of the boat ride?